Day 7, Thursday, September 7th: Travel Day

No rush to wake up this morning as our Lufthansa flight does not depart until 13:55. We have time to finish packing our suitcases and have some breakfast in the apartment. We have a fruit salad comprised of bananas, an apple and some strawberries. Very quiet here. The airport is in Keflavik which is 50 kms south and about a 45 minute drive. We need to fill up the gas tank before we drop off at Blue Car Rentals. Lana indicates we need to leave by 10:30 as she hates racing through airports and would rather get there early to be on the safe side. 

Our Lufthansa (Star Alliance Partners) flies to Frankfurt, Deutschland and is scheduled for arrival at 19:25 their time. We have a two hour layover then connect with a Lufthansa flight (21:30) to London Heathrow airport arrival time 22:10. It will be a long day today, but we end up in London. Lana booked a Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel which is very close to the airport. Plus, the hotel has a shuttle (*more on this later!). We received an email this morning indicating the Lufthansa flight this afternoon is fully booked and they are asking passengers to check in their carry-on luggage. Oops....

Lana keeps saying she "needs some sunshine!". The temperature in Reykjavik is 11 degrees Celsius. It isn't raining. We loved our studio apartment as it was very roomy with 2 separate couches in addition to the double-sized bed. We always found street parking so that was a bonus. The neighbourhood is fairly quiet. It will be a long travel day and we will be in three airports.

Driving towards the airport we need to find a gas station as close as possible given we need to return the rental vehicle with a full tank. I remember a gas station that was very close to the terminal and I was right (for once). We dropped the car at the car rental and did the short walk back to the terminal. The Lufthansa agent printed our boarding passes and confirmed we have access to the Iceland Air Saga lounge courtesy of Lana's Super Elite Air Canada status. The downside was they could not upgrade her to premium economy. We discovered later there was a good reason for their decision. 

We had fast-track status so we avoided the super long airport security line, but still about six people ahead of us. The. Slowest. Line. In. History. When we got to our turn, the security officer told me to take my shoes off and belt and return to the line. Then, another long wait for a tray. When I went through the same guy needed to pat me down front and back. We did find the lounge on the second floor and it had excellent assortment of hot and cold food! Plus, desserts and a huge variety of drinks (alcoholic and not). When we arrived the lounge was not busy. 

Lana found a postcard for 96 cents! The cheapest item we purchased in Iceland! As well, Lana solves the mystery of what "vik" means in Icelandic as it is in many city/town names. Vik means bay and Reykjavik means "smoky bay". 

Usual grey skies today with occasional light drizzle. In the lounge watching highlights of English Barclay's Premier soccer league games from the preceding weekend. In the lounge there was fish, but not sure what it was? It was delicious though. Lana enjoyed her egg salad sandwich with a Rhubarb gin and tonic with a splash of blueberry liquer. 

The lounge dessert assortment. The diamond shaped twisted pastries below are traditional Icelandic. 

Yup, I loved this fish! Fermented shark?

Lana has a strawberry, cashew, feta cheese salad that she says was delicious. But then again, salads weren't exactly a readily available option in Iceland for the past week so she's happy to have some greens. 

Lufthansa almost always boards very early relative to take-off time. We did have to check in my bag as it was deemed too large, but it was checked through to London Heathrow airport with a priority tag. I hope they don't lose it! On the plane, I focus my time solving Dell Cross Sums. It's an uneventful flight to Frankfurt International Airport. 

For both of us, it's a real treat to be back in Deutschland and experience German food/drink even if it is in the Lufthansa lounge. Pretty good selection of food and drink! We absconded with three German cheesy pretzels to eat tomorrow on our bus ride. We found some english language newspapers as well.

Beck's beer, glass of Apfelwein, cheesy pretzel and some German bread with cold cuts/cheese!

OK, we are in Deutschland and the Germans are known for efficiency and formality. We are at their main airport. They changed our gate at least four times causing chaos for a lot of people. The final gate is B41 and the plane will be close to full. It is 23 degrees Celsius at 20:38 so we back in warm weather. The major snafu is the need for a "document verification" prior to boarding the plane. There is a huge lineup and swarming begins as there is only one agent for this. They cordon off a small area around the check-in where you go after you are checked and you still are not boarding the plane. At this point everyone knows the flight will be dramatically delayed because the small cordoned off area is ridiculously small and won't hold everyone after they receive their verification. 

There is a lot of emotion as this guy takes his job a little too seriously. Hmmmm, maybe a little too Germanic. You need to provide your boarding pass and official documentation which is normally a passport. Plus, for some people he wants to check for their visa stamp. Loading the plane is super slow and we finally lift off in the dark. Thankfully it's a short flight to London about 72 minutes in the air. There is another lineup to have your passport scanned and photo taken without any agents present as they are "E-gates". Quite efficient really until your scan comes up with a red X and the words "seek assistance" which is what happened to fellow ahead of us in line. He looked a little distressed! Don't blame him, Next, we need to wait at the baggage carousel for my luggage. Immediately, we notice it is very hot here and it is close to midnight!

Remember the earlier notation about the hotel shuttle? Well, best laid plans!!!  We learn the #10 stop will be the shuttle that will take us to our airport hotel. Apparently, we miss it by two minutes as the driver left EARLY at 23:18 despite the fact that the last bus isn't supposed to leave until 23:20. We get in the taxi queue and wait for a while. 

The taxi ride costs 12.50 Pounds for a short ride of about eight minutes inclusive of waiting at some of the longest traffic lights in the world. Anyone been a proper London Black Taxi before? If yes, then you know how large the passenger section is in the back. It's not--it's huge and you can easily fit 4 suitcases where you sit. Well, Randy puts the two suitcases in the back and doesn't realize how much they will roll around when they're upright on their wheels still. As the suitcases start rolling around, he tries to secure them but to no avail. After one particularly sharp turn, Lana's suitcase goes flying and she catches it between her knees! 

Lana booked the London Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel which is right beside one of the runways. King-sized bed and a reasonable sized room for one night. She gets an upgrade due to her status. Problem though is our hotel room is super hot--33 degrees! Lana literally and figuratively has a melt-down (blame it on having mental-pause!). Eventually, after trying to reset the thermostat, she calls the front desk and gets the a/c turned up so the room cools off and we can fall asleep. The U.K is experiencing a heat wave this week so not sure why the room was set at 33 degrees.

We arrived at our hotel around 23:45. We do some planning on how to get to the Airport Bus Station and then it is time to get some sleep. We turn off the lights around 00:30. The hotel is pretty quiet and we are tired from a longish day of air travel.